Terms of Endearment
by redex
Summary: PG for HiiragiAkane, chasteness. Fluff! A movie is planned and not watched, Tachibana and Hitonari go for a walk. [ONESHOT]


**[edited]**: Sorry about the mix-up, I forgot to make a few changes here when I uploaded it. Thanks to Juli for noticing. ;

Here's a Hiiragi/Tachibana ficcu for all of yous, the first english one posted on ! XDv I wasn't going for that, I would have expected more people to have written for this thing, but I suppose as it is translated only into japanese and french, it is not such a big surprise. I am reading through scanlations, and am only on chapter 26, so this is completely out of the times-stream. ;

**Disclaimer:** We don't own I'll - Generation Basket, to the best of our knolage Hiroyki Asada does, and may they keep it!

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**Terms of Endearment**

_by_

**Red**

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Hiiragi sighed as he pulled off his shirt and tossed it in his duffle bag, pulling out a clean one out from underneath it. He paused as he heard the door swing open and then shut before turning back to his locker. "You hardly worked up a sweat out there."  
Hiiragi snorted and pulled on his shirt.

"Why should I? I'm just practicing," he replied, grabbing his coat and slamming the locker shut with satisfaction. Old habits die hard. He bent down and pulled the strap of the bag over his shoulder, and turned around to leave. The basketball star was forced to take a step back when he found himself in tight quarters with his rival. "Watch where you're going, idiot," he snarled, heart pounding at the sudden close encounter. _That was close... No one is supposed to get that close. Especially not him..._ But a little voice needled inside his head, the one that he didn't like to listen to.

_But you know you like it.  
_

His face flushed slightly, and Akane frowned as Hiiragi fidgeted with his shoulder-strap as an excuse not to look him in the eye. Just before Hiiragi had looked like he had had enough of waiting for Akane to get out of the way, and was brushing past, Akane spoke up.

"What are you doing tonight?"

Hitonari froze. Tachibana saw his back straighten suddenly and his hands went into his pockets.

"Minefuji asked me to tell you... we're going out to a movie tonight, her treat. Just the starters."

A shudder ran through the other teen and Akane did not miss it. "Well, it's not like you have anything better to do, idiot," Akane called after him as Hiiragi made to head out the door without answering. Instead, he stopped and looked at Akane slowly before finally saying, "Would you like for me to be there?"

"It's your decision." Tachibana smirked and shrugged his shoulders. Hiiragi just smirked right back at him. They understood one another once again. "Fine," he called behind him as he pulled open the door and stepped through. "I'll see you there... but you better shower first, idiot, or I'm going to pretend not to know you."

Akane just snorted as the door swung shut and he turned back to his locker.

By the time Tachibana showed up at the theatre they had decided on earlier, he could spot their odd group from a distance. Headed by the eccentric Minefuji, who was being physically restrained by Yuki from attacking a worker who had presumed to ask her to move so he could pick up some litter at her feet. Hiiragi was laughing into his hand while leaning on a nearby wall, while Harumoto and Saki were arguing while Tachimoto tried to keep the peace. Akane had thought that, for once, their fan club (namely Mika and Sumire) had been left out of the arrangement, but he should have been warned by Yuki and Saki's presence; the girls had been walking behind him the whole time.

Tachibana strolled up to the group and looked around. "What movie are we going to?" he asked finally, to no one in particular.

"Oh yeah!"

Minefuji forgot about her assaulter and brandished the handful of tickets, striking a pose. "We will be going to see... 'Godzilla and the Grass-Maiden'!"

Everyone stared. "You're joking..." Harumoto murmured.

"Well, it's not like I knew tonight would be a super-busy night! Plus they gave me a discount!" Minefuji smiled winningly while everyone continued to stare at her in disbelief. Yamazaki showed up then, looking in confusion around the dumbfounded group. "What's going on?"  
Akane sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Minefuji got us tickets to some cheap, dumb movie."

"Hey! I put a lot of effort and money into getting you these tickets you twerp!"

Yamazaki's eyes lighted on Hitonari as the boy watched the dysfunctional family in front of him, and the captain smiled. He was glad Hiiragi had found a home. "Um, guys, isn't the movie starting in 5 minutes?"

The sub-captain's proclamation ended up in a rush into the building to grab snacks before hurriedly heading into the already darkened theatre that was more occupied than any of them would have expected. There weren't enough seats for them all to sit together, so they ended up splitting into groups scattered throughout the theatre, so they could annoy the most amount of innocent movie-goers possible. Hiiragi had been heading for a seat beside Yamazaki and in front of Yuki and Minefuji when Akane grabbed him and pulled him into another seat beside him.

"Stop walking around, moron," Tachibana said loudly, causing him to gain a few glares from the people around him. Hiiragi realized why Akane had picked this particular seat: in front of him there was another empty seat he could put his feet up on.

It was about halfway through the movie, Hiiragi guessed. He had tried watching it up until now, but he felt as though the idiocy of the plot was rotting his brain as he watched it. So, he turned his head to see what Akane was doing. The other teen had fallen asleep in the position that he had been sitting in; Hiiragi hadn't even noticed. The light from the large screen played colors and shadows on the face, and Hitonari couldn't help but watch. He felt he understood Tachibana, at least, what he knew of him; and he felt he was understood by him. How could he help but be attracted to that relationship?  
  
He slouched down in his seat and just sat and stared at Tachibana. No one could see him in this darkened theatre. A few couples in the back had turned from the movie to things more entertaining, and Hitonari blushed lightly at the noises drifting down towards him in the movie's occasional moment of quiet. Though, it didn't seem as though there was any risk of Tachibana waking, he hadn't stirred yet, even when the Godzilla and alternate ladies in turn made some rather loud screams.

In time, he found himself to be leaning almost subconsciously in Akane's direction, and he froze when he realized it. What had come over him? This wasn't supposed to happen. But... His body is close... and he smells so good! Now that he thought of it, he was kind of tired too. He let his head fall back on the seat so that it lay near to his opposite. I can't help but feel I shouldn't feel this comfortable with being this close to him, but I can't help it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before opening his eyes again. And realizing that Tachibana was now awake. He flinched, fully expecting Akane to pull away, yelling obscenities or some such violent reaction. Instead, when he looked again, Tachibana had only drawn closer.

A smirk crossed his face and he murmured, "You don't have to be afraid, idiot."  
Hitonari had only time to blink once before he froze up, the simple brush of Tachibana's lips on his enough to send his mind reeling. When Hitonari sufficiently returned from outer space, he realized Tachibana must have been planning this all along; his satisfied smile said it all.

"Bastard..." he murmured.

Tachibana was unsurprised. "It was only a kiss."

Hiiragi blushed as his mind once again reeled through the possibilities of where this could go.

"Hmmm..."

Hitonari flinched again when Tachibana's hand brushed his cheek. _But, now that I've had a little bit I'm greedy for more.  
_

He gave in, and leant towards Tachibana until he felt that thrill of touch permeate him once again. But then, the lights were coming on, he could see them red behind his eyes, and he jerked away, standing up immediately and shoving his way out of the theatre before anyone else, leaving Tachibana sitting bewildered by himself.  
  
Yamazaki frowned behind his eternal glasses as he watched Hiiragi stand up abruptly and squeeze his way out of the theatre in the crowd. If something happened between Hiiragi and Akane, there could be problems for the team. Of course, that was his excuse for getting involved. Mostly, he just wanted to see the two finally get together. Minefuji had warned him, but no one else, that she knew Tachibana wanted to make a move on the more reclusive team member, perhaps he should tell her... But, he looked over to where Minefuji had been sitting; she looked to be much too busy with Yuki to be bothered. The people behind him were nudging him and telling him to hurry up and get out of the way, so he allowed himself to be pushed out of the theatre with the crowds, but waited at the entrance for Tachibana to show himself.  
  
"What am I doing..." the junior Hiiragi mumbled to himself, shoving his hands into his pockets, feeling weak. His head hung down and he didn't pay much attention to where he was going, just kept walking down the sidewalk. Then he felt like giving himself one of Tachibana's kicks; the first thing that had come into his mind was: "What if father found out...?"

Why would it matter if father found out? He doesn't matter. What do I want? What do I want? I want Tachibana. Ah, god, I want him. Hitonari slowed his speed-walk and then stopped. There was no one around. A quiet, sardonic laugh slipped out of his throat. "Ah, I'm so pathetic..." he murmured in the quiet. He felt a hand hit his back and he straightened up, looking over to his side in surprise.

"I don't think you are."

Tachibana kept walking and wasn't looking back, so Hitonari just caught up and waited for an explanation. He felt as though his heart was going to pound out of his chest, like a dribble gone awry, but he knew he still looked calm, collected. He almost regretted it.

"Why'd you run away?"

It was but a whisper, and when Hitonari looked over at him, Tachibana was hunched over so he couldn't see his face. He let out a large sigh and leaned back so he could look at the sky as they walked.

"I was...scared," he finally admitted, looking hard at his opponent. Akane looked surprised and Hiiragi guessed to why. "Not disgusted. It's not...bad."

Tachibana smiled and looked him full in the face for the first time that day.

"That's good, you moron. Because otherwise I'd have to kick your ass to teach you a lesson."

"Yeah, like you could."  
  
As they walked down the street together in no particular direction, their bantering echoed for a long ways. At one point, after they had both been carefully, minutely, getting closer, their hands touched. It was brief, and chaste, but neither pulled away, and they just walked for a long time, looking just like two loaners, except for the touching fingers that connected them.  
  
Yamazaki smiled as he watched the shadowy figures pass away down the street. He had followed Tachibana to make sure the two met up again. They were both such arrogant bastards, no one but they could put up with each other for long. They had obviously been meant for each other from the start.

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Blah. Now that we read it over we see the inconstistancy with the first chapter. That's what you get when you don't write things all at once... In any case, please review and tell me what you think, be it good or bad. We will see you around next time!


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